Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
March,  19 19.  J 
Advances  in  Pharmacy. 
157 
A  REVIEW  OF  THE  ADVANCES  IN  PHARMACY. 
By  John  K.  Thum,  Ph.M., 
LANKENAU  HOSPITAL,  PHILADELPHIA. 
The  Potash  Situation. — In  1914,  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey  and  the  Bureau  of  Soils  were  given  funds  to  undertake  an 
investigation  as  to  the  possibility  of  developing  the  potash  industry 
in  this  country.  This  investigation  has  proven  of  considerable  value 
and  the  results  are  the  beginning  of  what  will  eventually  prove  to 
develop  into  a  great  American  industry. 
Since  1914  wonderful  progress  has  been  made.  Only  recently 
Secretary  Lane  optimistically  declared  that  within  two  years  this 
country  will  be  independent  of  outside  sources  of  potash.  What 
this  means  may  be  readily  imagined  from  the  fact  that  our  pre-war 
demands  and  necessities  for  this  important  substance  amounted  to 
well  over  1,000,000  tons,  nearly  all  of  which  was  imported.  The 
question  of  an  adequate  potash  supply  is  a  vital  one,  and  of  far- 
reaching  economic  importance. 
One  of  the  first  sources  of  this  substance  to  be  investigated  was 
the  vast  deposit  of  kelp  along  the  Pacific  coast  from  Mexico  to 
Alaska.  At  first  the  kelp  was  merely  dried  or  incinerated  and 
ground  to  powder.  It  was  afterward  found  that  it  could  be  handled 
in  a  more  profitable  manner  which  would  result  in  the  production 
of  other  valuable  chemicals,  with  potash  relegated  to  the  position  of 
a  by-product.  As  an  example,  the  Hercules  Powder  Company  at 
Sart  Diego,  California,  has  built  a  large  plant  where  the  kelp  is  not 
dried,  but  fermented,  yielding  not  only  potash,  but  acetone,  iodine 
and  other  products,  including  algin,  which  it  is  predicted  may  ulti- 
mately become  commercially  valuable. 
Investigation  has  revealed  another  source  of  potash  in  the  United 
States  and  that  is  the  flue  of  blast  furnaces  and  the  dust  of  cement 
kilns.  The  production  of  potash  from  this  source  requires  a  rather 
highly  technical  operation,  and  is  mainly  carried  out  by  means  of 
an  apparatus  known  as  the  Cottrell  electrical  precipitator,  in  which 
the  potash  is  separated  out  and  collected  by  electrostatic  precipita- 
tion. Many  iron  ores,  especially  those  of  Alabama,  contain  about 
three  per  cent,  of  potash,  most  of  which  is  recoverable.    It  is  esti- 
